Navy yard shooting as false flag? Alex Jones is on it

The conspiracy theorist calls the Navy Yard shootings a "false flag" -- and he's not alone

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September 16, 2013 10:57PM (UTC)

We know very little detail about Monday morning's mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard: We know more than four people were shot dead (possibly even six dead and up to 12 injured) by a gunman holding a double-barreled shotgun, who was himself shot dead. We know there are potentially two more gunmen at large and no motives or identities have been confirmed.

Ever resourceful, our nation's reliable conspiracy theory machine has already been able to do much with this frail skeleton of information.

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As our old friend Alex Seitz-Wald noted for the National Journal, Alex Jones, the godfather of false flag conspiracy theorizing, has already suggested that the shooting was planted by the government to distract the public from Syria debates and bolster Obama's gun control push.

"It may be real crazies," Jones at least admitted, "but look at the timing. Obama rolling out a national campaign against guns yesterday, and then this happens," he said.

Meanwhile one video, flagged by conspiracy theory peddlers "Before its News" took video footage of a reporter laughing with a near-the-scene witness as evidence that the two men were staged actors:

Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.